A section of residents of Little Kancheepuram have objected to the dress code that is insisted on while their pictures are taken for the issue of Aadhar Card. They refused to wearshirts or T-shirts with collars that are the prescribed dress code. “We prefer to be photographed in our traditional wear, with an angavasthram,” said V. Narayanan of Sri Rangaraja Veethi.

Residents such as Mr. Narayanan and R. Srivatsan of Vegavathi Street were sent back without their data being captured at the camp held at a school on South Mada Street for the simple reason that they did not wear a shirt. In the camp, data including passport-size photographs, eye balls and finger prints of citizens were recorded.

When residents sought an explanation for the insistence on a dress code, the staff members at the camp who were taking the photos, said that they were merely sub-contractors and had been directed to capture the images of residents only if men and boys wore shirts with collars and girls sported duppatas.

Mr. Narayanan, exhibited a card issued to him last year by the Union Government, wherein his image with an angavasthram around his shoulders had been printed.

“I was told that the card issued to me last year will no longer be valid, which is why I came here. But now when I came here to comply with the government’s direction to avail this new card, they insisted that I wear a shirt”, he said.

M.R.V. Krishna Rao Joint Director, Census Department, told The Hindu that several such objections to dress code to had been recorded by the various vendors involved in capturing data. “In one place, members of a tribal community objected to wearing shirts. We can only ask them to wear a shawl. In another case, a woman had to be sent back as she had come in a T-shirt,” he said.

The department has asked the vendors to take photographs without hurting sentiments. “We held a meeting on Thursday and we have asked them to take photos as per individual requests. If the Unique Identification Authority of India rejects their cards on the basis of the photographs, then we will inform the public and take photos in the second round,” Mr. Rao said, adding that his office will soon write to the Authority informing of the objections to the dress code.

Calling the decision uncalled for and bizarre, NCWchairperson Mamta Sharma said, “The government must take action against such institutes.” The college authorities on Friday had slapped an Rs 100 fine on four students for coming to college in jeans and T-shirts.

However, college principal Alka Sharma said that the dress code would remain in force and they were not considering changing it. “Why should we change the dress code? There is no such demand from the students,” she stated adding that they allowed wearing jeans with a long kurta but not t-shirts.

When asked whether there have been any instructions from the Haryana higher education department or the university grant commission on a dress code in the colleges, she replied, “We receive no instructions from these authorities. Nor am I aware about any dress code in any other colleges or varsities,” she stated.

“The college has been carrying forward the tradition and principles set up by its founders and has made a mark in imparting education to the women”, she said.

Justifying the decision to impose a fine on four women students for violating the college dress code on Friday, the principal of the institution said there was no question of its withdrawal. Four students of Adarsh Mahila Mahavidyalaya women’s college at Bhiwani were fined Rs. 100 each after they were found wearing jeans and T-shirts by principal Alka Sharma during a surprise check. The students tried to register their protest by mobilising support from their classmates but had to abandon it after the college authorities warned them of severe consequences. Principal Sharma said, “The reason we have banned the western outfits is because when there a dress code, all the girls look alike and nobody suffers from any kind of complex. But western clothes attract the attention of men.”

Students expressed their indignation over the dress code to mediapersons in the college on Monday. “The norm of abstaining from wearing western clothes may have gone down well in the 1970s or ’80s when the college came into existence but we are girls of generation Y,” said a student who didn’t want to be named.

Said another student, Ritu, “The ban on wearing jeans or western clothes doesn’t guarantee that boys will not pass comments on girls. Even if a girl wears a burqa and doesn’t have confidence to handle the situation, she too can fall victim to eve-teasing.”

Jatinder Parsad, head of the sociology department at Rohtak’s Maharishi Dayanand College, said, “Imposition of a ban on jeans and T-shirts is something like a ban on their freedom and today if they are moulded according to a conservative mindset, how would they fit themselves in jobs if they move to metros or foreign countries?”

The girl students and the faculty of the college maintained that there had been opposition to the dress code but the authorities remained unmoved. However, students of the college refused to come on record against it

ROHTAK: Four girls invited the wrath of Adarsh Women College, Bhiwani, on Friday as they attended classes wearing jeans and T-shirt. A fine of Rs 100 was imposed on each of them. Though college authorities justified their action citing that the girls had flouted the dress code, the incident has not gone down well with students and a section of the faculty members.

College principal Alka Sharma said the girls were fined for violating the dress code, which has been there ever since college came into existence in 1970.

“The college management has implemented a dress code for students and staff. The girls must wear white salwar kameez on every Monday and any colour salwar kameez rest of the days. The women staff must come dressed in saris, while formal trousers and shirt is the dress code for the male staff. With the changing time, we have allowed the girls to wear jeans paired with long kurta, but these girls were wearing T-shirts,” she said.

“Another reason to impose this ban is to maintain the decorum of the college, every child should look same irrespective of what class she belongs, and through this nobody will have superiority and inferiority complex. Considering all these things, all students will come in Indian dress and would not wear jeans and t-shirts as it attracts men,” said Sharma.

College sources, however, maintained that though students have objection to this dress code and have even opposed it on several occasions, authorities remained unmoved.

T P Nijish TNN , NOv 4, 2012

Malappuram:The Sullamussalam Oriental High School (Areekode) refused to let a teacher, who was allegedly suspended for not abiding by a dress code, to resume work on Saturday despite the district education officer (DEO) revoking her suspension.
Mathematics teacher Kollathodi Jameela, who was allegedly handed a 15-day suspension for wearing a white overcoat instead of a green one mandated by the management to avoid “students’ prying eyes”, was told that her suspension ended only on Saturday evening and, thus, she couldn’t resume working yet.
Jameela had approached the state human rights commission after she was suspended by the school management on October 20. The suspension order said Jameela refused to follow the dress code and she had been suspended on charges of “indiscipline and disobedience”. The DEO’s order, which came on Friday evening, said the management had failed to prove the charges against the teacher.

‘Green coat’ school mgmt runs for cover

T P Nijish, TNN Oct 30, 2012,

MALAPPURAM: After its decision to impose a dress code – a green overcoat – for teachers triggered a controversy, the management of Sullamussalam Oriental High School in Areekode is considering revoking its decision.

The school management has approached the teacher, who was suspended recently for not following its dress code diktats for compromise. The management has said that it is considering to introduce an overcoat in another colour, which is acceptable for all the teachers in the school.

Kerala teacher moves rights panel against ‘dress code’

Oct 24th, 20112

K Jameela, a mathematics teacher in the school was suspended on October 20 for 15 days for “grave charges of indiscipline and disobedience”. Earlier, the teacher had informed the school management that she is willing to wear an overcoat of any other colour. Though the management denied all allegations saying that the colour of the overcoat introduced in school was not green, but dark grey, the teacher had pointed out that the showcause notice issued by the management clearly mentioned that the colour of overcoat should be ‘light green‘.

However, now the management has admitted that it was a mistake on its part to mention ‘light green’ in the showcause notice and that it is ready for a compromise in order to snuff out the controversy. “We have informed Jameela about our interest in reaching a compromise,” said N V Zacharia, management committee member.

A woman teacher, who was suspended for a fortnight from an aided higher secondary school in Malappuram district for allegedly refusing to fall in line with the management’s diktat to wear a “light green” overcoat, has approached the State Human Rights Commission, seeking justice.

Authorities of Sullamssalam Oriental High School at Areekode in Malappuram in north Kerala, however, disputed the teacher’s contention that the ‘dress code’ had been enforced by them.

On the contrary, it was a collective decision of the teachers of the school, school authorities claimed.
Jameela K, a mathematics teacher, was placed under suspension for 15 days last week for turning up at the school without wearing the overcoat in the prescribed colour.

Jameela alleged that though she wore a white over-coat, the management insisted she don the “green” outfit.

According to SHRC member Prof KE Gangadharan, the Deputy Director of Education had been asked to probe the matter and submit a report.

“Let us wait for the report. If it is true that the management had enforced the dress code, that would be an infringement on individual’s freedom,” Gangadharan told PTI.

If the allegation is found true, the Government would be directed to take proper action, he said.

The management disputed Jameela’s charge holding that the colour suggested was not “green” but “asparagus”. Teachers had been given the choice to wear either a black pardha or “asparagus”, which is light green, not the deep green which is associated with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), whose nominee is the education minister.

“This is an unnecessary controversy. Some people are trying to give a political colour to the whole issue”, management sources said.

RAIPUR: A powerful Other Backward Classes(OBC) community in Chhattisgarh has imposed a ‘dress code‘ on women to force them to wear saris in a particular way in the village of Panditarai in Ambagarh Chowki block in Rajnandgaon district, sparking protests from the females.The issue came to light after a woman, who identified herself as Jayanti, raised the issue through ” CGNet Swara“, a voice-based portal, freely accessible via mobile phone, which allows anyone to report and listen to stories of local interest.

“Local Sahu community has imposed a dress code for women. Anyone disobeying the code will have to pay a fine of Rs 501 as punishment,” Jayanti pointed out expressing her protest over the local community leaders decision to impose the dress code.

Jayanti told TOI over telephone that the local Sahu caste leaders convened a meeting of men and conveyed that all women folk must wear sari in traditional form in which the “pallu” should be on the right shoulder, fully covering the naval portion. She said the local caste leaders were now exerting pressure on men to force women to follow what they term as an age-old tradition of the community. “I have no idea about such diktat. Sahus belong to a progressive community which believes in women’s freedom and their right to choose their dress,” Community’s Rajnandgaon district president Moti Sahu told TOI over telephone.

Sahu Samaj state vice-president Shantanu Sahu said they were not aware about any such diktat by the local leaders in the village and would certainly inquire into it.